FBI Report: Some “Striking Advances,” Data Woes

By |March 10, 2005

The FBI is making progress transforming itself from a crime-fighting agency into the nation’s main anti-terrorism organization, but it remains hobbled by computer woes that impede efforts to manage information and share it with other security and intelligence groups, says a new evaluation reported by the Chicago Tribune. The FBI received good marks from the National Academy of Public Administration for strengthening its counterterrorism and intelligence capabilities and for “striking advances” in its willingness to cooperate with other law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The report cited deficiencies, including a lack of a single watch list of known or suspected terrorists for use by law-enforcement authorities, airlines, and the Transportation Safety Administration. The report was released the day after FBI Director Robert Mueller told a congressional committee that the bureau’s troubled $170 million Virtual Case File computer system cannot be salvaged, and that it will take more than three years to develop a new case-management system.

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